Jeremy Kovak (photo: Iconn Sports)

WW: Will this injury cause you to ride differently? Will we see a new style of riding from you?
JK: Yes and no. When I got back on my board after surgery, I could only go wake to wake so it forced me to learn all the new technical tricks. It is definitely a different way of riding. I spent four to five months learning all new tricks and fell in love with them. Don't get me wrong, I still love doing all the tricks I did before, but it gave me a new insight. It was fun to do something different.

WW: Were you concentrating on more spin maneuvers then big things like slow balls?
JK: Yeah, actually I was. I spent the whole year working on spins. That seems to be what the judges want. It's what the riders think is the good stuff and so that's kind of…I just said if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. It was kind of something where I just said screw it. If this is what they want me to do, if this is where the sport is, then this is what I'm gonna work on. That's when I decided to work a lot on spins and work a lot on stuff they wanted to see.

WW: Now, isn't that a lot easier on your knee as well?
JK: Way easier, way easier. Yeah, there is nothing hard. The only thing that gives me problems is the whirlybird. If I land it wrong I can tweak my knee. It's the craziest thing in the world. I'm gonna screw that trick. I'm just gonna leave it. I'm just gonna do whirly fives. Yeah it's the only thing that messes my knee up.

WW: So you're not going to be doing any double fronts or stuff like that?
JK: No, not right now. I want to. I don't want to sound like Darin saying this, but I know I could do it. The last couple years I've spent a lot of time on a trampoline and I know I can do it. But I also know if I land wrong, I'm done.

Jeremy Kovak (photo: Iconn Sports)

WW: Did you ever get a chance to try them?
JK: No, I never did get that chance. At the time he (Darin Shapiro) learned them I was planning to learn them too. He learned them in '97 and I figured I'd wait until the end of the season to try 'em. Then after I won the Worlds, I just said, "Screw it, I'm gonna take a three month break and I'm gonna come back and in the next year I'll start working on them." That's when I blew my knee out. So it wasn't something I got a chance to work on.

It's too bad cuz I got a chance to work with a coach on a trampoline at this gym that is 15 minutes from my house. It's one of seven gyms throughout the world that is strictly like…you have to see the set up. It's unbelievable. Anything you want to do is there and the world champion trampolinists, male and female, train there. Their trainer trained me like two years ago and I got really, really good on the trampoline. The reason I decided to do it was I saw the world champion guy and said to myself, "if that guy ever wakeboarded, there is no one that would beat him." You gotta see this guy.

WW: So are you trying to talk him into boarding?
JK: He wanted to try, but you know how gymnasts are they are so focused and get up at like five in the morning and train and train and that's their sport and what they have to do because that is what everyone does. He wanted to wakeboard. But I'd be afraid for him to wakeboard. I've invited him out and he wants to go but he hasn't been able to come yet. I'd love to get him out but that guy…I promise you, I know he could do a triple front flip off a double up.

WW: So what were you doing on the tramp?
JK: I got on the trampoline and at first doubles felt weird to me. You had to get your air senses and I started doing doubles and doubles with 1/2 and full twists and it got to the point where I could do double front 3 1/2 twists, double back 3 1/2 twist and do a triple front. I got really, really good air sense and I got to understand how to do doubles…to know exactly where I am. That was just before I injured myself and by the time I got back in the states I blew my knee out and never got the chance to try.

WW: Are you working on any signature moves to replace your Slow Ball or are you just trying to keep up with what everybody else has been doing?
JK: To be honest with you, I haven't done any double ups this year. I'm just working on catching up and I feel like just now I'm finally somewhat caught up. I was gonna work on some double ups and I still will this fall, but I think what I'm gonna do is get a knee brace from CTI and put one of those on to learn stuff so I can feel like I'm not gonna hurt myself. Then once I learn it, take it off. I don't know if I'm gonna have anything to invent. There is enough out there that I gotta learn.

WW: What did you do in Vancouver on the double up?
JK: Uhh, (laughs) fell, believe it or not.

Jeremy Kovak (photo: Iconn Sports)

WW: What were you trying to do?
JK: I was gonna do a five, just a 540, and I did a three and fell. Believe it or not, Vancouver was the first double up I hit since 1997. Because of my knee, I said that I'm going to wait until a full year has gone by before I start worrying about double ups. I'm just going to ride again and not worry about how I do. I just want to ride and get back and get my feet wet again. So when I was in Vancouver, believe or not, it was the first time. I didn't know what to do because I have not hit one double up since I hurt my knee and I thought, well, I'll try to do a five and I missed the double up and ended up only doing a three. Then I kind of landed and started to fall into the wake and I fell over and I knew it was a lame double up.

WW: Well, it sounds like you did all right anyway.
JK: Yeah, well my run went really well.

WW: What tricks were in your run?
JK: My run included a Mobe, Roll to Blind, Switch FS 7 to Blind, Pete Rose, X-Mobe, Blind 5 and an S-Bend.

Previous

Next